WETLAND RESTORATION ON PRIVATE LAND CASE STUDY 4: CASHMORE DISTRICT

This is the fourth of our early works case studies, where we review a trial sandbag structure installed at Cashmore.

This project involved the installation of a temporary sandbag weir in an artificial drain on a private property near Portland, in far south-western Victoria. The temporary weir was constructed using sandbags made from geo-textile material placed to form a weir wall and overflow sill within the existing drainage channel. The trial sandbag structure is designed to function as a drainage regulation weir, where water flowing out of the drainage channel is retained to promote pooling of the backwater into the natural wetland depression located directly upstream. In this instance, the landholder was interested in restoring the natural wetland area – noting that this area had become much drier since the construction of the drain – as the wetland area itself was considered to be of marginal value for agricultural purposes.

The temporary sandbag weir was installed in early June, prior to the above average July rains in that district, being completed by the landholder, members from a local landcare group and Nature Glenelg Trust.  The weir structure has been designed to recreate a 4 hectare wetland area by restricting drainage outflows by up to 60 cm within the existing drainage channel.  NGT’s Lachlan Farrington put together a short summary of the action, which can be viewed below:

Temporary trial weir structures provide both Nature Glenelg Trust and the landholders we work with, with an inexpensive and low risk approach to trialing wetland restoration measures. Once the functionality of the structure and its wetland restoration impact have been assessed by both parties – under real conditions – a permanent structure can be designed and installed according to a set of agreed criteria. In this way, trial structures can provide a valuable (no-obligation) first step, along the path to providing lasting, self-sustaining and effective wetland restoration solutions in the region.

Trial structures are not necessary at every site, but are a good option for people who are tentative about making the leap to a permanent structure, without having the opportunity to see what the potential inundation effect will be first under a range of settings and conditions. If you are interested in having a wetland restoration trial undertaken on your property, please contact us here.

This Case Study is the fourth in a series to illustrate wetland restoration in practice, delivered through Nature Glenelg Trust’s Wetland Restoration Program on Private Land and funded by the Australian Government.

  • Are you a keen nature photographer and supporter of NGT? If so, we could use your help! 27/03/2024
    For those of you who have been following NGT since the early days, you will notice that our website still very much looks the way it used to, right back at the beginning! Truth be told, we’ve been so busy getting on with our important work over the years, that we’re now long overdue for ...
  • NGT Out and About – Photos from the field in March 27/03/2024
    NGT’s Senior Wetland Ecologist Ayesha Burdett shared photos from some wetland restoration events in Victoria this month. She and Lisa McIntyre (NGT Partnerships and Community Coordinator) attended a Farm Dam Field Day organised by Panyyabyr Landcare Group to talk about water quality and catchment health, and had a day out with Monivae Year 7 students. ...
  • Useful insights from a peatland restoration story in the UK 27/02/2024
    Further to the story about peatlands I shared in last month’s newsletter, a video was shared with me last week, which provides interesting insights into an example of peatland restoration in the UK. You can watch the 12 minute video below. For me, this story highlights how the issues confronting peatlands are global: the reasons for ...
  • Rare King Penguin sighting on the mainland attracts plenty of attention! 27/02/2024
    Occasionally we get an unexpected maritime visitor to Australia’s shores of the feathered kind. The King Penguin, which normally spends its time frequenting the sub-Antarctic oceans and islands, is one such species that you don’t normally expect to see on the beaches of mainland Australia! This recent visitor turned up late last month on the rugged ...
  • Brolga once again flocking back to Green Swamp! 27/02/2024
    It’s that time of year again when we start to see Brolga flock to certain sites around south-western Victoria. Since the hydrology of Green Swamp (near Glenthompson) was restored just on a decade ago, we’ve seen flock numbers slowly increasing here too. Last year was a bit of an anomaly, probably because there was so ...
  • Improving the view at Mt Burr Swamp 27/02/2024
    NGT recently had some beautiful big replacement windows installed in the old shearing shed at Mt Burr Swamp which is used by visiting groups, for educational activities and by volunteers and staff. So, it is time to share the upgraded ‘view’ from the Mt Burr Swamp shed, as captured in the short video below. Next time ...
  • A bird’s-eye view of Mt Vandyke reveals the extent of recent prescribed burns 27/02/2024
    In last’s months newsletter, John filled us in on the success of the recent successful prescribed burn at Mt Vandyke, undertaken to help reduce biomass as a key step in the process to prepare the site for re-establishment of native grassland habitat. As it turns out, while I was on my way past the site the ...
  • Monitoring the health of Walker Swamp’s River Red Gums reveals interesting patterns of growth and flowering 27/02/2024
    During mid-summer for the last six years, a group of keen volunteers and NGT staff have gathered at NGT’s Walker Swamp Restoration Reserve for two days of field work, to assess the condition of River Red Gums across the reserve. Mid-summer is chosen for these surveys as it is around the time that most of ...
  • Walker Swamp’s Red Gum revival hits the media 27/02/2024
    Continuing with this month’s Red Gum theme at Walker Swamp, there was a nice short article written by Gavin McGrath from the ABC a couple of weeks ago, which you can read by following this link. It occurred to me that it might also be worth sharing an image that I took out at Walker ...
  • NGT nursery given a helping hand 27/02/2024
    Our Community Nursery site at Vansittart Park is in a fantastic central location for our volunteers, and allows us to grow seedlings for numerous restoration projects. However, space at our small nursery is limited and we have nowhere to expand, and this year’s planting season is going to be a big one! So this year, ...

Click here for the full list of project related blogs

No Comments

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.